SKT Win Second Consecutive League of Legends MSI Tournament

Yesterday marked the second consecutive win for the LCK’s SK Telecom T1 at the League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational. The decisive victory proved that, although the roster may have...

Daniel Joseph Lilly
22 May,2017

Yesterday marked the second consecutive win for the LCK’s SK Telecom T1 at the League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational. The decisive victory proved that, although the roster may have changed with the additions of Peanut and Huni since 2016, the organization has proved that their talent, staff, and infrastructure are perfectly capable of consistently creating the best team in the world.

SKT at MSI 2017

With a bye into the third round of the Group Stage, it was a little while before SK Telecom T1 even had to play a match. And once they did, it seemed like they were in a league all their own, remaining undefeated for the first half of their matches. They gave up only two games during that bo1 series, to WE and to Flash Wolves.

They would face Flash Wolves once again in the semifinals, and this time in a bo5. While there was some speculation that the Taiwan squad would earn the title of “Korean Killers,” SKT showed they were not to be trifled with in a dominant 3-0 sweep, eliminating one half of the two teams that had taken a game off of them.

Meanwhile, in the other semifinals match, EU LCS champions G2 Esports eliminated the other. Their victory over WE was celebrated, but certainly their excitement was tinged with a bit of dread about having to face the defending champions, and the team that is commonly agreed upon as being the best League of Legends squad in the world.

And while most were predicting a no-contest in the finals, the players on G2 Esports showed up in a big way. Game one was close, but SKT prevailed. Game two even saw G2 Esports get the better of the LCK stars, splitting them up around the map and taking them out. The frantic play of SKT in that game seemed like a completely different team.

But a major part of SKT’s strength is its adaptability, and that trait was on full display in game three. By the time it came to game four, they were once again playing a level of League of Legends beyond anything G2 could match.

And while Bang was a terrifying powerhouse, Faker exhibited his classic expertise and superior mechanics, Peanut dominated the jungle in nearly every match, and Huni always had a trick up his sleeve, it was SKT Wolf who would earn MVP. His ability to exploit the individual strengths of every support champion in his vast pool, and to seemingly always be in the right place at the right time, were critical factors in giving SKT the edge over their opponents throughout MSI.

Daniel serves as the MOBA and Esports Editor for MMOExaminer and is a writer based in San Francisco, California. He enjoys games, music, film, certain television and theater. A former student of anthropology, he is fascinated by the intersections of culture, media and technology. He is perpetually in search of the perfect MMORPG, which may not actually exist.